H. Beam Piper – Page 6

LibriVox: Lone Star Planet by H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox My friend Luke Burrage, of the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast, has been talking with me about the Planetary Romance subgenre of Science Fiction. We’re both big fans of it. It’s an old genre, probably best sired by Edgar Rice Burroughs with his novel A Princess Of Mars.

Here is the definition of Planetary Romance from the introduction to The Ultimate Guide Of Science Fiction: The Definitive Illustrated Guide (edited by David Pringle):

PLANETARY ROMANCE: a romantic adventure story set on a colourful alien planet, often involving an element of swordplay (or science fiction equivalent).

I bring this all up because the most recent Planetary Romance to draw my attention is one that’s Texas-sized in scope, but short in length (running under 3.5 hours). And of course the necessary swordplay element has naturally been replaced by gunplay – it is a planet full of Texans after all!

Lone Star Planet
By H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
5 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 3 Hours 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 25, 2009
New Texas: its citizens figure that name about says it all. The Solar League ambassador to the Lone Star Planet has the unenviable task of convincing New Texans that a s’Srauff attack is imminent, and dangerous. Unfortunately it’s common knowledge that the s’Srauff are evolved from canine ancestors—and not a Texan alive is about to be scared of a talking dog! But unless he can get them to act, and fast, there won’t be a Texan alive, scared or otherwise!

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/lone-star-planet-by-h-beam-piper-and-john-j-mcguire.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

And, if you’re looking for more terrifically narrated Planetary Romance audiobooks you couldn’t do better than to start with another one read by Mark Douglas Nelson … The Green Odyssey by Philip Jose Farmer.

[Thanks also to libraryanne and James Christopher]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LIBRIVOX: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 014

SFFaudio Online Audio

Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 014
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 3 Hours 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories, first published between 1951 and 1962, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-014.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Beyond Pandora
By Robert J. Martin; Read by James Christopher
1 |MP3| – Approx. 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
The ideal way to deal with a pest—any menace—is, of course, to make it useful to you… From Analog September 1962.

Blessed Are the Meek
By G.C. Edmondson; Read by Alex Clarke
1 |MP3| – Approx. 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
Every strength is a weakness, and every weakness is a strength. And when the Strong start smashing each other’s strength … the Weak may turn out to be, instead, the Wise. This story was first published in the September 1955 issue of Astounding.

I Like Martian Music
By Charles E. Fritch; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
There have been a number of interesting theories advanced about life on Mars, but few have equaled Charles Fritch’s intriguing picture of the world of Longtree and Channeljumper in its infinite variations, tonal and thematic. The Mars of these two is an old culture, old and finite. From Fantastic Universe September 1957.

It’s A Small Solar System
By Allan Howard; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
Frederik Pohl wrote recently about the time, when he was young, when he spent more time in Barsoom than in Brooklyn. Allan Howard, Director of the Eastern Science Fiction Association in Newark, takes us back to those nostalgic days in this vignette of man’s first hours on Mars. From Fantastic Universe September 1957.

Operation R.S.V.P.
By H. Beam Piper; Read by William Haseltine
1 |MP3| – Approx. 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
Bombs, guided missiles, bacteria: none is as deadly as a glib-tongued diplomat… From Amazing Stories, January, 1951.

Pandemic
By J.F. Bone; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 52 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
Generally, human beings don’t do totally useless things consistently and widely. So—maybe there is something to it— From Analog Science Fact and Science Fiction February 1962.

The Professional Approach
By Charles Leonard Harness and Theodore Lockhard Thomas; Read by Joelle Peebles
1 |MP3| – Approx. 44 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
The trials of a patent lawyer are usually highly technical tribulations— and among the greatest is the fact that Inventors are only slightly less predictable than their Inventions! From Analog September 1962.

Test Rocket!
By Jack Douglas; Read by Alex Clarke
1 |MP3| – Approx. 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
It’s amazing how much you can learn about absolute strangers if you just stop to think about the kind of an animal they’ll put in a… Test Rocket! From the Amazing Science Fiction Stories magazine’s April 1959 issue.

Vanishing Point
By C.C. Beck; Read by Dan Gurzynski
1 |MP3| – Approx. 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
In perspective, theoretically the vanishing point is at infinity, and therefore unattainable. But reality is different; vanishment occurs a lot sooner than theory suggests … From Astounding Science Fiction July 1959.

The Worshippers
By Damon Knight; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 51 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 27, 2009
Destiny reached out a hand to Algernon Weaver—but he was a timid man, at first. But on the strange world of Terranova, there was much to be learned—of destiny, and other things… From Space Science Fiction March 1953.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper

SFFaudio Review

SFFaudio Essential Little Fuzzy
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Brian Holsopple
5 CDs – 5 Hours 53 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: November 2006
ISBN: 9781897304617
Themes: / Science Fiction / Planetary Colonization / Sapience / Law / Mining /

The chartered Zarathustra Company had it all their way. Their charter was for a Class III uninhabited planet, which Zarathustra was, and it meant they owned the planet lock stock and barrel. They exploited it, developed it, and reaped the huge profits from it without interference from the Colonial Government. Then Jack Holloway, a sunstone prospector, appeared on the scene with his family of Fuzzies and the passionate conviction that they were not cute animals but little people…

Little Fuzzy is a novel cherished by a smallish but passionate group of admirers. They seem to love it for its portrayal of the fuzzies themselves. It may be a “furry fandom” book too (but I’m a little afraid to do the research on that). I myself hadn’t heard of the novel, or much of the author, H. Beam Piper, until Little Fuzzy and pretty much everything else written by H. Beam Piper began being posted to Project Gutenberg.

My initial sense of the book was that Little Fuzzy would act as a lens through which historical colonizations could be examined – something like what was done in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word For World Is Forest. But it didn’t work out that way. Piper was not trying to explore historical events as much as what we mean by the word “sapience.” The verdict on the Fuzzies is obvious from the begining, but curiously enough the Fuzzies are still somewhat treated like children even by their human champions. Perhaps this was the only way Piper could easily characterize the right minded human’s benevolence? I wish he were alive so I could ask him about this. For the infantilization of the Fuzzies parallels some attitudes towards the aboriginal peoples facing colonization here on Earth. But like I said, the general focus is on a philosophical examination of the concept of sapience – not colonization.

After some initial trepidation I found myself hanging on the every word of this WONDERFUL audiobook. H. Beam Piper is an amazing storyteller. His homespun folksiness allows him to make grammatically wrong choices, but none that ever misconstrues his intended meaning. For example:

“He dropped into a chair and lit a cigarette. It tasted badly, and after a few puffs he crushed it out.”

I think Grammar Girl would have a problem with this noting that ‘cigarettes don’t have tongues so they can’t taste well or badly’ – despite this, I think Piper’s Little Fuzzy is some of the most transparent and plainspoken prose that I’ve ever read. Narrator Brian Holsopple doesn’t have a vast range with which to pitch his voice, but he subtly manages to give accent and attitude to every character. His voicing of the entire fuzzy vocabulary (just the one word: “yeek”) is nearly as broad – giving curiosity, understanding, determination and suggestion to every yeek in the book. There was a small editing gaffe on disc 3, a repeated line, and another similar one on disc 5 but otherwise the production was perfect.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Last Enemy by H. Beam Piper

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox If anybody should have his middle name changed to “audiobook” it’s Mark Douglas Nelson. Mark has now completed his sixth H. Beam Piper audiobook.

This story, Last Enemy, is part of Piper’s “Paratime” series. As with all the others this one is a public domain audiobook based on a public domain story. The original publication being in Astounding Science Fiction’s August 1950 issue. Thanks Mark!

Last Enemy
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
5 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 2 Hours 39 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 9th, 2009
An undercover Paratimer has disappeared on assignment while in an alternate time line, and it’s up to Verkan Vall of the Paratime Police to save her. To do so, he must infiltrate a universe in which assassination is an honorable profession, and reincarnation a scientific fact. Will Verkan Vall survive in a world of killers and the undead?

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/last-enemy-by-h-beam-piperlast-enemy-by-h-beam-piper.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Edge Of The Knife by H. Beam Piper

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s a new FREE LibriVox H. Beam Piper audiobook, it took a little while for the podcast feed to appear but its all ready for listening now…

The Edge Of The Knife
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Julio Martini
6 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 48 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 12, 2009
The Terro-Human Future History is Piper’s detailed account of the next 6000 years of human history. 1942, the year the first fission reactor was constructed, is defined as the year 1 A.E. (Atomic Era). In 1973, a nuclear war devastates the planet, eventually laying the groundwork for the emergence of a Terran Federation, once humanity goes into space and develops antigravity technology. The story “The Edge of the Knife” (collected in Empire) occurs slightly before the war, and involves a man who sees flashes of the future. It links many key elements of Piper’s series.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-edge-of-the-knife-by-h-beam-piper.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

Forgotten Classics: The Aliens by Murray Leinster

SFFaudio Online Audio

For folks who haven’t experienced it, now’s a great time to jump in to the FORGOTTEN CLASSICS podcast!

Here’s why, Julie talks about:

–Viking Dawn by Henry Treece!
–Greener Than You Think by Ward Moore (LibriVox)!
-Audiobooks vs. “real books”!
-Paperbook Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman vs. the Lenny Henry read audiobook of Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman!
-a podcast highlight of Mark Douglas Nelson’s SciPodBooks podcast!
–Space Tug by Murray Leinster!
–Space Viking by H. Beam Piper!
–The Green Odyssey by Philip Jose Farmer!

Oh and didn’t I mention? She’s also, with the latest show, finished her reading of The Aliens by Murray Leinster (which was one of our Third Annual SFFaudio Challenge titles!

Exclamation point folks, exclamation POINT!

The Aliens
By Murray Leinster; Read by Julie Davis
2 MP3s – 2 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Forgotten Classics
Podcast: January 2009
First published in Astounding SF’s August, 1959 issue.
The human race was expanding through the galaxy … and so, they knew, were the Aliens. When two expanding empires meet … war is inevitable. Or is it …?

Part 1 |MP3| and Part 2 |MP3|

Podcast feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/ForgottenClassics

Posted by Jesse Willis